Recomposing survey questions for distribution via multiple distribution channels

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to distributing a survey created for a first distribution channel across multiple distribution channels. More specifically, one or more embodiments of the present disclosure relate to providing a user with the ability to create a survey for one distribution channel and automatically provide the survey across multiple distribution channels. Further, one or more embodiments of the present disclosure improves survey administration by collecting responses to the survey from across the various distribution channels, compiling the responses, and providing the overall results of the survey to the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/773,684, filed on Jan. 27, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 14/743,745, filed on Jun. 18, 2015, which issued asU.S. Pat. No. 10,547,709. Each of the aforementioned applications ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

One or more embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally tosystems and methods for distributing a survey across multipledistribution channels. More specifically, one or more disclosedembodiments relate to systems and methods for distributing a surveycreated for a first distribution channel across multiple distributionchannels.

2. Background and Relevant Art

In general, companies, and even individuals, use surveys, polls, andquestionnaires to acquire information and feedback provided by others.For example, a company may use feedback obtained from a customer surveyto identify areas where the company can make improvements to thecustomer experience. For instance, a company can use the opinions andfeedback from past customers to improve the experience of current andfuture customers. As another example, an individual can use responsesprovided by his or her peers through a poll or questionnaire to gatheradditional information about a subject or topic of interest to theindividual.

The Internet has become a popular distribution channel to administersurveys between users because of the Internet's ability to connect usersto each other. To illustrate, a user can create a survey online,distribute the survey to a number of other users via the Internet, andhave the other users complete the survey online. When creating anddistributing an online survey, a user may employ an online surveysystem, such as online applications or websites. Further, after a numberof respondents complete an online survey, conventional online surveysystems can present survey question results to the user.

One problem with conventional survey systems is that a respondent oftenmust access and complete the survey online (e.g., on a website). Inparticular, conventional survey systems often provide online surveysthat are created for respondents to complete using client devices havinglarger displays (e.g., desktop computers). Commonly, however,respondents are using mobile devices having smaller displays, whichoften do not properly display conventional online surveys. Accordingly,if a user wants to send out a survey via another electroniccommunication distribution channel, a user typically must manuallycreate a separate survey for the other distribution channel. Forexample, if the user desires to send the survey out via an electronicmessaging distribution channel, the user usually must manuallyreconfigure/rewrite the survey questions and/or the survey answerchoices in a format that is presentable specifically for the electronicmessaging distribution channel.

Having to reconfigure/rewrite a survey and send the survey viaalternative distribution channels, however, creates additional problems.For example, in conventional systems, responses that are received fromdifferent distribution channels are more difficult to analyze as awhole. For instance, in conventional systems, a user that administers asurvey via different distribution channels is often provided withresponses grouped together based on the specific distribution channels.Therefore, after receiving responses from various distribution channels,the user must sort through the responses, combine the responses from thevarious distribution channels together, and organize the results foreach question. Often, this process of sorting, combining, and organizingresponses from surveys administered through different distributionchannels is a manual process that is time consuming, expensive, andprone to error.

Overall, when a user wants to administer a survey using more than onedistribution channel, the user must manually customize the survey foreach distribution channel, collect responses received from across eachof the distribution channels, and organize the responses for eachquestion into a set of results. Thus, when a user desires to administera survey through more than one electronic communication distributionchannel, the user must perform time consuming and expensive steps to setup a survey to be administered for each of the electronic communicationchannels the user desires to use. Moreover, additional time and expenseare needed to combine the responses from the various electroniccommunication distribution channels. Due to the added time and expense,many users simply choose to not take advantage of the various electroniccommunication distribution channels, and therefore, limit the reach andeffectiveness of a survey.

Accordingly, these and other disadvantages exist with respect toconventional systems and methods for distributing surveys acrossmultiple distribution channels.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide benefits and/or solve oneor more of the foregoing or other problems in the art with systems andmethods for distributing a survey created for a first distributionchannel across multiple distribution channels. For example, the systemsand methods disclosed herein provide a user with the ability to create asurvey for one distribution channel and automatically provide the surveyacross multiple distribution channels. Further, the systems and methodsprovide improved survey administration by collecting responses to thesurvey from across the multiple distribution channels, compiling theresponses, and providing a single set of results of the survey to theuser, regardless of the particular distribution channel source of eachresponse.

To illustrate, the systems and methods disclosed herein assist a user incomposing survey prompts or questions for a survey to be administered ona particular distribution channel, such as an online survey. The systemsand methods also allow the user to select an option to administer thesurvey on one or more alternative distribution channels, such as amessage distribution channel. If a user selects the option to distributethe survey on an alternative distribution channel, the systems andmethods will automatically recompose one or more survey questionscreated for one distribution channel to be administered via thealternative distribution channel.

In particular, based on the question type, the systems and methods mayrecompose (e.g., translate and/or map) a survey question andcorresponding answers from an online format to a format better suited toanother distribution channel. After recomposing one or more of thesurvey questions, the systems and methods may provide the survey torespondents via the alternative distribution channel. For example, ifthe alternate distribution channel is a SMS (short messaging service)distribution channel, the systems and methods may send the survey withone or more recomposed survey questions to the respondents via textmessage.

Further, the systems and methods can receive responses from respondentsvia the alternative distribution channel. For example, in the case thatthe alternative distribution channel is a SMS distribution channel, thesystems and methods may receive the responses via text message. Uponreceiving the responses, the systems and methods may determine surveyanswers based on the responses received via text message. The systemsand methods may then update the results for the survey with thedetermined answers.

The survey system may also provide a number of additional benefits overconventional systems. For example, in addition to converting surveyquestions to suit various distribution channels, the survey system canvalidate responses received from each distribution channel.Additionally, as another benefit, the survey system may notify a userwhether a survey question created for one distribution channel iscompatible with another distribution channel. Further, the survey systemcan facilitate multiple survey sessions with a single respondent at onetime via multiple distribution channels.

Additional features and advantages of the embodiments will be set forthin the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by the practice of such exemplaryembodiments. The features and advantages of such embodiments may berealized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinationsparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. These, and otherfeatures, will become more fully apparent from the following descriptionand appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of such exemplaryembodiments as set forth hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above recited and otheradvantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the disclosure briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof that areillustrated in the appended drawings. It should be noted that thefigures are not drawn to scale, and that elements of similar structureor function are generally represented by like reference numerals forillustrative purposes throughout the figures. Understanding that thesedrawings depict only typical embodiments of the disclosure and are nottherefore considered to be limiting of its scope, the disclosure will bedescribed and explained with additional specificity and detail throughthe use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system inaccordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example schematic diagram of a survey system inaccordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates a sequence-flow method showing the survey systemadministrating a survey to a client device in accordance with one ormore embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates a sequence-flow method showing the survey systemvalidating responses to a survey question received from a client devicein accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 5A illustrates an example of a multiple choice survey questioncomposed for presentation on a first distribution channel in accordancewith one or more embodiments;

FIGS. 5B-5F illustrate examples of recomposed multiple choice surveyquestions for presentation on a second distribution channel inaccordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 6A illustrates an example of a matrix survey question composed forpresentation on a first distribution channel in accordance with one ormore embodiments;

FIG. 6B illustrates an example of recomposed matrix survey questions forpresentation on a second distribution channel in accordance with one ormore embodiments;

FIG. 7A illustrates an example of a multiple selection survey questioncomposed for presentation on a first distribution channel in accordancewith one or more embodiments;

FIGS. 7B-7C illustrate examples of recomposed multiple selection surveyquestions for presentation on a second distribution channel inaccordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 8A illustrates an example of a heat map survey question composedfor presentation on a first distribution channel in accordance with oneor more embodiments;

FIG. 8B illustrates an example of a recomposed heat map survey questionfor presentation on a second distribution channel in accordance with oneor more embodiments;

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method for distributing asurvey via an additional distribution channel in accordance with one ormore embodiments;

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method for recomposing asurvey question based on question type in accordance with one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computing device inaccordance with one or more embodiments; and

FIG. 12 is an example network environment of a survey system inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments disclosed herein provide a survey system fordistributing a survey created for a first distribution channel acrossmultiple distribution channels. In particular, the survey systemprovides a user with the ability to create a survey for one distributionchannel and automatically provide the survey across additionaldistribution channels. Additionally, the survey enables improved surveyadministration for a user by collecting responses to a survey fromacross various distribution channels, compiling the responses,identifying results in each response, and providing survey results tothe user.

To illustrate, in one or more embodiments, the survey system receives anindication that a user desires to distribute a survey across adistribution channel that is different from the distribution channel forwhich the survey was originally created. For example, while creating anonline survey, a user may desire that one or more respondents completethe survey via an additional distribution channel. As such, the user mayselect an option to distribute the survey via the additionaldistribution channel. In this manner, the survey system may allow theuser to create a survey using familiar methods, such as creating anonline survey, while still allowing the user to administer the surveyover additional or alternative distribution channels, such as email,text, chat, messages, etc.

In some example embodiments, when the user desires to administer thesurvey via an alternative distribution channel, the survey systemidentifies one or more questions in the survey to recompose via thealternative distribution channel. In particular, the survey system mayidentify the question type of each question in the survey. Based on theidentified question type for each question in the survey, the surveysystem may determine whether to recompose the questions to be presentedon the alternative distribution channel. For example, the survey systemmay identify a question as a multiple choice question, and furtherdetermine to recompose the question into a format more suitable to besent via a messaging distribution channel. Alternatively, the surveysystem may determine that a question is an open-ended question and,therefore, does not need to be recomposed before being sent via themessaging distribution channel.

In addition to recomposing a survey for presentation on an alternativedistribution channel, in some embodiments, the survey system mayfacilitate sending the survey, with one or more recomposed questions, tovarious respondents via one or more alternative distribution channels.For example, the survey system may directly administer (e.g., send andreceive) the survey via a messaging distribution channel. Alternatively,the survey system may communicate with a third-party to administer thesurvey to the various respondents. For instance, the survey system maycommunicate with a third-party service that sends and receives messagesvia one or more alternative distribution channels, such as via amessaging distribution channel.

When a survey response to a survey question is received back, the surveysystem may validate the response. For example, the survey system mayvalidate that the response corresponds to an active survey.Additionally, the survey system may verify that the response contains apotential answer (e.g., the response is not blank and does not containincoherent data). Further, in the case that the response is in reply toa recomposed survey question, the survey system may validate that theresponse correlates to one of the available recomposed answer choicesfor the recomposed survey question.

After validating a response, the survey system may determine an answerto the survey question. For instance, if the response to the surveyquestion is responding to a survey question that has not beenrecomposed, the survey system may determine the response contains theanswer to the survey. In another instance, however, when the responsecorresponds to a recomposed survey question, the survey system maydetermine that the response provides an indication of the actual answer(e.g., the response includes an indication that maps to an availableanswer choice to the survey question). In this instance, the surveysystem may use the indication of the answer to identify the actualanswer to the survey question. Additional detail regarding the processof determining an answer to a survey question using a response to arecomposed survey question will be provided below.

Once the survey system receives and/or determines an answer, the surveysystem may update the results of the survey with the answer. In someexample embodiments, the survey system may send out the next question ina survey after receiving a valid answer for a previous question. Inaddition, the survey system may compile answers from various respondentsand update the survey results. Further, the survey system may collectresults from across different distribution channels and present theoverall results to the user that created the survey.

As mentioned above, the survey system described herein can provide anumber of advantages. To illustrate, one or more embodiments of thesurvey system allows a user to create a survey for a single distributionchannel, and then distribute the survey over multiple distributionchannels without the user needing to manually customize the surveyformat or content for the other distribution channels. As anotherbenefit, the survey system also collects responses from across multipledistribution channels and compiles the results together as a whole,without the user needing to manually intervene to combine responses andanswers from the different distribution channels.

As used herein, the term “survey” refers to an electronic communicationused to collect information. For example, a survey may include anelectronic communication in the form of a poll, questionnaire, census,or other type of sampling. In some example embodiments, the term surveymay also refer to a method of requesting and collecting information fromrespondents via an electronic communication distribution channel. Asused herein, the term “respondent” refers to a person who participatesin, and responds to, a survey.

A survey may include survey questions. As used herein, the term “surveyquestion” refers to prompts included in the survey that invoke aresponse from a respondent. Example types of questions include, but arenot limited to, multiple choice, open-ended, ranking, scoring,summation, demographic, dichotomous, differential, cumulative, dropdown,matrix, net promoter score (NPS), singe textbox, heat map, and any othertype of prompt that can invoke a response from a respondent. In one ormore embodiments, when one or more answer choices are available for asurvey question, the term survey question may comprise a questionportion as well as an available answer choice portion that correspondsto the survey question. For example, when describing a multiple choicesurvey question, the term survey question may include both the questionitself as well as the multiple choice answers associated with themultiple choice question.

As used herein, the term “response” refers any type of electronic dataprovided by a respondent. The electronic data may include feedback fromthe respondent in response to a survey question. Depending on thequestion type, the response may include, but is not limited to, aselection, a text input, an indication of an answer, an actual answer,and/or an attachment. For example, a response to a multiple choicequestion may include a selection of one of the available answer choicesassociated with the multiple choice question. As another example, aresponse may include a numerical value, letter, or symbol that thatcorresponds to an available answer choice. In some cases, a response mayinclude a numerical value that is the actual answer to a correspondingsurvey question.

The term, “distribution channel,” as used herein, refers generally to anelectronic communication channel. Examples of distribution channels mayinclude wired or wireless channels, such as online connections,electronic mail, and electronic messages (e.g., instant messages, textmessages, multi-media messages, chat, etc.). In some embodiments, adistribution channel requires using a specific protocol when sendingelectronic data via the distribution channel. As a result, electronicdata may need to be converted to a specific type of protocol beforebeing sent over a corresponding distribution channel. For example,electronic data being sent to a mobile device via a SMS distributionchannel must be based on SMS protocol before the electronic data can besent via the SMS distribution channel.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 inaccordance with one or more embodiments. As illustrated, thecommunication system 100 includes a survey system 102 and a clientdevice 104. The survey system 102 may connect to client device 104 via anetwork 106. Although FIG. 1 illustrates a particular arrangement of theclient device 104, the survey system 102, and the network 106, variousadditional arrangements are possible. For example, the survey system 102may directly communicate with the client device 104, bypassing thenetwork 106.

As mentioned, the survey system 102 and the client device 104 maycommunicate via the network 106. The network 106 may include one or morenetworks, such as the Internet, and may use one or more communicationsplatforms or technologies suitable for transmitting data and/orcommunication signals. Additional details relating to the network 106are explained below with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a respondent 110 may interface with the firstcomputing device 220 a, for example, to access the survey system 102.The respondent 110 may be an individual (i.e., human user), a business,a group, or other entity. Although FIG. 1 illustrates only onerespondent 110, one will understand that communication system 100 caninclude a plurality of respondents, with each of the plurality ofrespondents interacting with the communication system 100 using acorresponding client device.

The client device 104 may represent various types of computing devices.For example, the client device 104 may be a mobile device (e.g., a cellphone, a smartphone, a PDA, a tablet, a laptop, a watch, a wearabledevice, etc.). In some embodiments, however, the client device 104 maybe a non-mobile device (e.g., a desktop or server; or another type ofclient device). Additional details with respect to the client device 104are discussed below with respect to FIG. 11.

In one or more embodiments, the survey system 102 may communicate withthe respondent 110. In particular, the survey system 102 may send asurvey (e.g., questions or prompts associated with a survey) to therespondent 110 via the network 106. More specifically, the survey system102 may send the survey to the respondent 110 via the network 106 usinga variety of distribution channels. For instance, the survey system 102may send a survey via an online distribution channel (e.g., through awebsite). In another instance, the survey system 102 may send a surveyvia a messaging distribution channel (e.g., in a chat, text, instantmessage, etc.).

In response, the respondent 110 may interact with the survey system 102to complete the survey. In one or more example embodiments, therespondent 110 may respond to the survey using a mobile device or tabletclient device. In alternative embodiments, the respondent 110 may used alaptop or desktop client device. In some example embodiments, therespondent 110 may use a combination of client devices to respond to asurvey.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of a survey system 102 inaccordance with one or more embodiments. The survey system 102 may be anexample embodiment of the survey system 102 described in connection withthe survey system 102 of FIG. 1. The survey system 102 can includevarious components for performing the processes and features describedherein. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, the survey system102 includes a survey manager 204, a distribution channel manager 206, acomposition manager 208, and a results database 210. In addition, thesurvey system 102 may include additional components not illustrated,such as those as described below. The various components of the surveysystem 102 may be in communication with each other using any suitablecommunication protocols, such as described with respect to FIG. 12below.

Each component of the survey system 102 may be implemented using one ormore computing devices (e.g., server devices) including at least oneprocessor executing instructions that cause the survey system 102 toperform the processes described herein. The components of the surveysystem 102 can be implemented by a single server device or acrossmultiple server devices, as described above. Although a particularnumber of components are shown in FIG. 1, the survey system 102 caninclude more components or can combine the components into fewercomponents (such as a single component), as may be desirable for aparticular implementation.

As illustrated, the survey system 102 includes a survey manager 204. Thesurvey manager 204 can manage the creation of a survey and thecomposition of one or more survey questions. Additionally, the surveymanager 204 can manage the collection of responses provided byrespondents in response one or more survey questions provided by thesurvey system 102. In particular, the survey manager 204 can assist auser in generating and/or creating surveys, which enable the user toobtain feedback from respondents. For example, the user may interactwith the survey manager 204 to create and/or organize a survey thatincludes one or more survey questions.

As part of assisting a user in creating a survey, the survey manager 204may suggest additional survey questions to include in the survey. Forexample, if a user selects a question that prompts a respondent toselect an answer from a range of available answer choices, the surveymanager 204 may recommend that the user also add an open ended questionsto ask the respondent depending in the respondent's answer to thequestion.

To illustrate, a survey administrator or product manager (e.g., theuser) may add a question to a survey that asks a respondent to rank asatisfaction level with a product from one (1) to ten (10), where one(1) is very unsatisfied and ten (10) is very satisfied. If a respondentmarks a low score (e.g., a 1, 2, or 3), the survey manager 204 maysuggest adding an open-ended question that asks the respondent toexplain his or her dissatisfaction with the product and/or what could bedone to improve the respondent's satisfaction level. If the respondentmarks a high score (e.g., an 8, 9, or 10), the survey manager 204 maysuggest adding an open-ended question that asks the respondent thereason behind the respondent's satisfied with the product and/or whatthe respondent likes about the product.

The survey manager 204 may provide other features to assist a user inthe creation and composition of survey questions to present torespondents. For instance, the survey manager 204 may providealternative wording for questions provided by the user. Further, thesurvey manager 204 may allow the user to review the set of surveyquestions as if a respondent was viewing the survey, such as in apreview mode.

In addition to creating a survey, the survey manager 204 may assist auser in editing a survey that the user is creating or has created. Forexample, the survey manager 204 may provide tools that allow a user toadd, remove, edit, or otherwise modify survey questions. For instance,the survey manager 204 may enable a user to change the available answerchoices for a survey question. In another instance, the survey manager204 may allow the user to remove one or more survey questions, evenafter the survey has begun to be administered to respondents.

Further, the survey manager 204 may allow a user to specify preferencesand/or parameters for one or more surveys. For example, the user may usethe survey manager 204 to specify the beginning date of a survey, asurvey's duration, and/or when a survey expires. The survey manager 204may also enable a user to specify how long a respondent has to completea survey, or the time (e.g., either a minimum time or a maximum time) arespondent has to respond to a survey question,

In some example embodiments, the survey manager 204 may assist a user inspecifying customizations to apply to a survey. For instance, a user mayuse the survey manager 204 to apply specific branding to a survey, suchas applying a particular color scheme and/or adding a company's logo.Further, the user may use the survey manager 204 to specify whenquestions on a survey should import piped text (e.g.,respondent-customized text) into a survey based on contact anddemographic information the survey system has on file for respondents.For example, when a user selects an option to add piped text, the surveymanager 204 may input the name, age, and/or gender of a respondent insurvey questions sent to the specific respondent.

In a similar manner, the survey manager 204 may aid a user in selectingthe respondents to whom to send a survey. In some cases, the surveymanager 204 may provide a listing of respondents to whom to send asurvey. In additional, the survey manager 204 may organize respondentsin groups and allow a user to select one or more groups. In someinstances, the survey manager 204 may allow the user to import contactinformation for respondents. For instance, the user may upload a list ofmobile numbers to which the survey system 102 should send a survey.

In addition to creating a survey, the survey manager 204 may enable theuser to select which distribution channel(s) the survey system 102should use when administering the survey. As one example, the user mayselect an option to have the survey system 102 administer the surveysystem on a website available via the Internet. Additionally oralternatively, the user may select an option for the survey system 102to administer the survey via instant messages, text messages, or withina chat session. When selecting multiple distribution channels on whichto administer a survey, the survey manager 204 may prioritize onedistribution channel over another distribution channel. For instance,the survey manager 204 may instruct the survey system 102 to attempt toadminister a survey via the Internet (i.e., using hyperlinks andwebsites), and if unsuccessful, to administer the survey via textmessage.

In some example embodiments, the survey manager 204 may be locatedoutside of the survey system 102. In other words, the survey manager 204may be part of a system that is separate from the survey system 102,such as belonging to a third-party system. When the survey manager islocated outside the survey system 102, the survey manager 204 may, apartform the survey system 102, create and distribute surveys as well asgather and store responses from respondents for the surveys.

Regardless of whether the survey manager 204 operates as part of thesurvey system 102 or another system, the survey manager 204 can collectresponses to survey questions provided by respondents. The surveymanager 204 may collect responses in a variety of ways. To illustrate,the survey manager 204 may extract responses to a survey question inbulk. For example, the survey manager 204 may collect a list of multipleresponses to a survey question. In addition, or in the alternative, thesurvey manager 204 may collect responses to a survey question asrespondents provided their responses to the survey question.

Once the survey manager 204 collects a response to a survey question,the survey manager 204 can verify the answer to the survey questionprovided in the response. In particular, if the respondent is respondingto a survey question that includes available answer choices, the surveymanager 204 can determine that the response includes an answer thatcorresponds to one of the available answer choices for the surveyquestion. In this manner, the survey manager 204 may ensure that onlyvalid answers are being included in the results and stored in the surveysystem 102, as described below. If the survey manager 204 determinesthat an answer is invalid, the survey manager 204 may enable therespondent to re-answer the survey question. In some cases, if therespondent is unavailable, the survey manager 204 may disregard theinvalid answer in the response.

In some example embodiments, upon collecting and verifying responses,the survey manager 204 may store the responses. More specifically, thesurvey manager 204 can store the responses for a survey in a resultsdatabase 210. In some instances, the survey manager 204 may separatelystore responses for each survey question. To illustrate, if a surveyincludes two survey questions, then the survey manager 204 can storeresponses for the first survey question together and responses for thesecond survey question together. Additionally or alternatively, thesurvey manager 204 may store the responses outside of the survey systemor on a system belonging to a third-party.

Further, after verifying that an answer for a survey question is valid,the survey manager 204 may compile answers for survey questions into aset of results. In some cases, compiling the results may include addinga newly obtained answer to a set of previously compiled results. Forexample, each time a respondent answers a particular survey question fora survey, the survey manager 204 may add the newly received answer toanswers previously received from other respondents for the same surveyquestion. Additionally, the survey manager 204 may compile a set ofsurvey results based on the results for each survey question.

The survey manager 204 may also provide the results for one or moresurvey questions in a survey to the user that created the survey, asurvey administrator, and/or a survey result reviewer. The surveymanager 204 may present the results using charts, graphs, and/or othergraphics. For example, for a multiple choice question, the surveymanager 204 may provide a bar graph comparing each answer together.Further, the survey manager 204 may update the results as additionalanswers are received from respondents, as described above.

In some example embodiments, the survey manager 204 may present theresults to the user via a website. The website may be the same websiteused by the user to create the survey. The website may provide resultsof the survey to the user regardless of the distribution channel thesurvey system 102 employed to administer the survey. For example, thewebsite may display a single set of results of a survey even whenrespondents of the survey completed the survey via multiple distributionchannels, such as online or via text messages, chat, instant messaging,email, etc.

As briefly mentioned above, the survey system 102 includes adistribution channel manager 206. When the survey system 102 administersa survey, the distribution channel manager 206 may send and receive thesurvey to and from designated respondents. More specifically, thedistribution channel manager 206 may send and receive surveys torespondents via the distribution channel(s) selected by the user.

In particular, when a user selects a particular distribution channel onwhich to administer a survey, the distribution channel manager 206 mayidentify the protocols and communication requirements for the particulardistribution channel. For example, when the user selects the option toadminister a survey via a website, the distribution channel manager 206may identify relevant protocols, such as TCP/IP, HTTP, etc., along withthe requirements for each protocol. As another example, when the userselects the option to administer a survey to mobile devices via textmessage, the distribution channel manager 206 may identify the protocolsfor sending and receiving messages via SMS, short message peer-to-peer(SMPP), multimedia messaging service (MMS), enhanced messaging service(EMS), and/or simple mail transport protocol (SMTP).

Additionally, the distribution channel manager 206 may specify outgoingaddress information associated with a survey. Depending on thedistribution channel, the distribution channel manager 206 may send asurvey from one of multiple addresses (e.g., websites, email addresses,phone numbers, etc.). In the case of multiple distribution channels, thedistribution channel manager 206 may specify the outgoing address fromwhich to send a particular survey. In this manner, when a respondentreceives a survey, or a request to participate in a survey, the incomingaddress seen by the respondent is the outgoing address specified by thedistribution channel manager 206.

To illustrate, a user can select the option or designate a survey to besent via text message to a respondent's mobile device. When sending atext message to a respondent's mobile device, the distribution channelmanager 206 may choose from a number of outgoing addresses from which tosend the survey. In some example embodiments, the distribution channelmanager 206 may select between short numbers (e.g., 5-digit or shortcode numbers) and/or long numbers (e.g., 10-digit or long code numbers).Further, in one or more embodiments, the distribution channel manager206 may allow a user to specify which outgoing address(es) thedistribution channel manager 206 should associate with a survey and/ordistribution channel.

In one or more embodiments, the survey system 102 may be administeringmultiple surveys to the same respondent. In some of these embodiments,because the distribution channel manager 206 is able to send a survey toa respondent via multiple outgoing addresses, the distribution channelmanager 206 may associate a different outgoing address with each surveybeing sent to the respondent. To illustrate, a first survey may be sentto the mobile device of a respondent via a first outgoing address, and asecond survey may be sent to the mobile device of the respondent via asecond outgoing address.

In some example embodiments, the distribution channel manager 206 mayuse one or more third-party services to distribute a survey torespondents. For instance, when a user selects the option to administera survey via a particular distribution channel, the distribution channelmanager 206 may use a third-party service that is specialized indistributing information via the particular distribution channel. Forexample, if a user specifies that a survey should be administered viatext message, the survey system 102 may employ a third-party textmessaging service to send and receive the survey.

The distribution channel manager 206 may provide navigational tools andoptions to the respondent based on the distribution channel that thedistribution channel manager 206 uses to send a survey to a respondent.For example, when administering a survey via a website, the distributionchannel manager 206 may provide navigational tools, such as a progressindicator, and navigational options, such forward and back, to therespondent. As another example, when administering a survey via textmessage, the distribution channel manager 206 may provide navigationaltools and options that allow a respondent to skip a question, return toa previous question, stop the survey, get progress update, etc. Due tothe nature of text messages, however, the distribution channel manager206 may provide these tools and options to a respondent upon arespondent sending particular key words in a response, such as “skip,”“back,” “stop,” “status,” etc.

In one or more embodiments, the distribution channel manager 206 mayprovide an option for a respondent to pause a survey and resume thesurvey using a different distribution channel. For example, when arespondent is completing a survey via a text message on a mobile device,the respondent may respond with “web access,” “online version,” or someother type of response indicating a desire to continue the surveyonline. In response, the distribution channel manager 206 may providethe respondent with a link (e.g., URL), which when selected, allows therespondent to continue the survey online rather than by text message. Insome embodiments, the user designs the survey to automatically includethe link in the survey (e.g., at the beginning of the survey), such thatthe respondent can use the link at anytime to continue the survey via adifferent distribution channel. Likewise, a respondent completing thesurvey online may select an option, such as a link built into orpresented by the survey, to continue the survey via an alternativedistribution channel, such as email, text message, instant message, etc.

Further, when available, the distribution channel manager 206 mayprovide an option for a respondent to select a language preference. Thepreference may be applied on a per survey basis or applied to futuresurveys for the respondent (e.g., such as a global preference).Depending on the distribution channel on which the survey isadministered, the option to set a language preference may be displayedas an option within the survey. Alternatively, the user may need tospecify their language preference in response to a language preferencemessage sent by the survey system 102 (e.g., text “Spanish” back tocomplete the survey in Spanish).

In some example embodiments, depending on the distribution channel used,the distribution channel manager 206 may receive multiple responsescorresponding to a single communication. For example, when sending andreceiving a survey via some text message distribution channels, such asSMS, the distribution channel may limit the number of characters thatcan be included in an electronic communication (e.g., up to 160characters). As such, the distribution channel may break up textmessages in multiple messages. If the distribution channel manager 206receives multiple text messages within a predefined time of one another(e.g., 10 seconds), the distribution channel manager 206 may need toconcatenate the multiple text messages into a single response.

When concatenating responses, the distribution channel manager 206 maydetermine the number of text messages that correspond to a response. Ifthe distribution channel manager 206 determines that two text messagescorrespond to a response, the distribution channel manager 206 mayidentify the text message with 160 characters (or other character limit)as the first part of the response and the text message with less than160 characters as the second part of the response. If the distributionchannel manager 206 determines that more than two text messagescorrespond to a response, the distribution channel manager 206 mayidentify the text message with less than 160 characters is the last partof the response. Further, the distribution channel manager 206 may usecapitalizations at the beginning of the response, timestamps, and otherfactors to determine the order of the remaining text messages. In somecases, the text messages themselves will provide an indication of theorder that the text messages should be concatenated (e.g., “Message 1 of3,” “Message 2 of 3,” and “Message 3 of 3”), which the distributionchannel manager 206 can use to concatenating the multiple related textmessages.

While the distribution channel manager 206 may send a survey to arespondent upon the request of a user, as described above, in somecases, a respondent may initiate the survey. For example, a respondentmay contact the survey system 102 to take a survey. Depending on thedistribution channel the respondent uses to take the survey, therespondent may need to include an access code when contacting the surveysystem 102 to initiate a survey. For instance, when sending a textmessage to the survey system 102 (e.g., to an address associated withthe survey system 102), the access code included in the text messageindicates to the survey system 102 the particular survey that therespondent desires to take. Accordingly, the distribution channelmanager 206 may detect the incoming text message, identify the accesscode in the text message, and indicate to the survey system 102 that therespondent would like to take the corresponding survey.

As described above, a user may specify that the survey system 102administer a survey via a particular distribution channel. In someexample embodiments, the user may specify that the survey manager 204administer a survey via text message, such as via an instant message, aSMS, a chat, or another text-based distribution channel. The surveymanager 204, however, may be unable to administer a survey over thespecified distribution channel because one or more survey question inthe survey were not composed to be administered over the specifieddistribution channel.

To illustrate, the user may create a survey online. The user may createthe survey online using applications and tools provided by the surveymanager 204, as described above. As part of creating the survey, theuser may select the option to distribute the survey via text message (inaddition or in place of administering the survey online). If the usercreated the survey to be distributed as an online survey, rather thanrequiring that the user manually recreate the survey for distributionvia text message, the survey system 102 may automatically recompose thesurvey to be distributed via text message.

To illustrate, the survey system includes the composition manager 208,which includes a question-type detector 212, a question recomposer 214,a response validator 216, and a response translator 218. When the surveysystem 102 needs to distribute a survey on a distribution channel otherthan the distribution channel for which the survey was created, thecomposition manager 208 may, without user intervention, recompose thesurvey to enable the survey to be presented on the selected distributionchannel.

To illustrate, when recomposing a survey, the composition manager 208may determine whether a survey question in the survey can be sent viathe selected distribution channel or if the survey question needs to berecomposed before the survey question can be sent via the selecteddistribution channel. In some example embodiments, the compositionmanager 208 may determine whether a survey question needs to berecomposed based on question type. Accordingly, the composition manager208 may include a question-type detector 212 that identifies and detectsthe question-type of survey questions, and determines if the compositionmanager 208 needs to recompose one or more survey question. A surveyquestion can be one of many question types. Examples of question typesinclude, but are not limited to net promoter score (NPS), multiplechoice, multiple selection, open-ended, ranking, scoring, summation,demographic, dichotomous, differential, cumulative, dropdown, matrix,short response, essay response, heat map, etc.

The question-type detector 212 may determine the question type of asurvey question using a variety of methods. In one or more embodiments,the question-type detector 212 may identify that a survey question hasbeen tagged as a specific question type. For example, as part ofcreating a survey, a user may select a particular type of question toadd to the survey. For instance, the user may select a multiple choiceor open-ended survey question to add to the survey. When the userselects to add a survey question having a particular question type, thesurvey system 102 may tag the survey question as having the selectedquestion type.

Additionally or alternatively, the question-type detector 212 mayanalyze the survey question to determine the question type. Forinstance, the question-type detector 212 may identify key words in aquestion that may indicate the question type. For example, upondetecting that the survey question includes the words “additionalcomments,” the question-type detector 212 may determine that the surveyquestion is an open-ended question. As another example, upon identifyingthe words, “mark all that apply,” the question-type detector 212 mayidentify the question type as a multiple selection question.

Further, the question-type detector 212 may use the presence ofavailable answer choices in a survey question to determine the questiontype of the survey question. For instance, if no available answerchoices are associated with an answer, the question-type detector 212may rule out the possibility of the survey question being a multiplechoice or multiple selection question. Further, the question-typedetector 212 may determine that the question type is open-ended, shortresponse, or essay response. In another instance, if the question-typedetector 212 determines that a respondent must select one of twoanswers, or if the only available answer choices are “yes” and “no,” thequestion-type detector 212 may determine the question type to bedichotomous. Similarly, if the question-type detector 212 determinesthat a respondent must select one of multiple available answer choices,the question-type detector 212 may determine that the survey question isa multiple choice question.

Depending on the selected distribution channel and the question type,the composition manager 212 may determine to recompose a question to bebetter suited for the selected distribution channel. For example, if asurvey is to be administered via text message, the composition manager208 may determine that recomposing open-ended questions would minimallybenefit respondents, while recomposing survey questions with multipleavailable answer choices (e.g., multiple selection, and matrix surveyquestions) would benefit respondents by allowing respondents toconveniently answer these questions via text message.

When the composition manager 208 determines that a survey questionshould be recomposed, the question recomposer 214 may recompose thesurvey question to better suit the selected distribution channel. Forexample, the question recomposer 214 may recompose (e.g., reformat,restructure, or otherwise modify) a survey question before the surveyquestion is provided to a respondent over the selected distributionchannel. Features and functionalities of the question recomposer 214will now be described. In addition, FIGS. 5A-8B provide various examplesand embodiments of recomposing survey questions composed originally foruse with one distribution channel, and then recomposed to be providedvia another distribution channel.

For purposes of explanation, the question recomposer 214 will bedescribed in terms of recomposing a survey question originally composedfor an online survey to a recomposed survey question to be presented viatext message. One will appreciate, however, that the principlesdescribed herein with respect to the question recomposer 214 apply torecomposing a survey question to be provided via other distributionchannels. Further, when a user composes a survey question, the user mayintend for the survey question to be distributed via text message,however, it may be more intuitive and familiar for the user, given thetools provided by the survey system 102, to create a survey questionsfor online distribution rather than for distribution via text message.

In general, the question recomposer 214 recomposes survey questions suchthat the survey question can be more easily answered via the selecteddistribution channel. For example, when a respondent is answering amultiple choice or multiple selection answer on a webpage, therespondent may use a cursor to select an answer from the availableanswer choices. If the same question was presented to the responded viatext message, however, the responder does not have the option to use acursor to select an answer. Accordingly, the question recomposer 214 mayrecompose the question to allow the respondent to answer the surveyquestion with minimal effort, such as answering a multiple choice surveyquestion by texting back a single digit or single letter.

In some example embodiments, the question recomposer 214 may recompose asurvey question based on protocol limitations of the distributionchannel over which the survey question is sent. For example, if thesurvey is administered via text message such as SMS, each text messagesent may be limited to 160 characters. Other distribution channelprotocols may have similar character limitations. Accordingly, thequestion recomposer 214 may recompose a survey question by reducingwords and/or characters in a survey question to fit within a singlemessage. Fitting a survey question in a single message may allow arespondent to see the entire survey question as a whole, rather than thesurvey question being divided into multiple parts.

Alternatively, the question recomposer 214 may determine to send asurvey question as multiple messages. In this case, the questionrecomposer 214 may determine where to split a survey question in orderto reduce confusion to a respondent. For example, the questionrecomposer 214 may prevent splitting the survey question between text(e.g., moving available answer choices to another text message).Further, the question recomposer 214 may ensure that when multiplemessages are sent for a survey question, the messages do not arrive outof order, as often is the case when a text message system splits asingle text message into multiple text messages.

In some example embodiments, and based on question type, the questionrecomposer 214 may divide a survey question into multiple recomposedsurvey questions when presenting the survey question via text message.For example, and as shown and explained below in FIGS. 6A-6B, a surveymay include a matrix survey question. Presenting a matrix questioncomposed for an online survey via text message is not practical and insome cases, not possible for a respondent to answer. Accordingly, thequestion recomposer 214 may recompose a matrix question to be presentedvia text message by dividing the matrix question into multiplerecomposed questions.

In one or more embodiments, the question recomposer 214 may recompose asurvey question by assigning or mapping available answer choices of thesurvey question to corresponding letters or numbers. To illustrate, asurvey question may ask “How often do you visit our restaurant?” andprovide available answer choices of “Daily,” “Weekly,” “Monthly,”“Yearly,” and “Never.” The question recomposer 214 may recompose theavailable answer choices into “1—Daily,” “2—Weekly,” “3—Monthly,”“4—Yearly,” and “5—Never,” where a respondent need only to respond withthe corresponding number (e.g., “1,” “2,” “3,” “4,” or “5”). In somecases, the question recomposer 214 can associate numbers to availableanswer choices that are words (e.g., “1: Dog,” “2: Cat,” “3: Bird,”etc.) while associating letters with available answer choices thatinclude numbers (e.g., “A: 0,” “B: 1-10,” “C: 11-50,” etc.).

Further, when the question recomposer 214 recomposes available answerchoices of a survey question by assigning letters or numbers to eachavailable answer choice, the question recomposer 214 may accept multipleanswers for each available answer choice. For example, if a recomposedsurvey question that includes the recomposed answers of “1: Dog,” “2:Cat,” “3: Bird,” a response including either “2” or “Cat” may be validbecause the survey system 102 may use either value to determine therespondent's answer to the survey question.

As mentioned above, the question recomposer 214 may recompose a surveyquestion based on the question type of the survey question. For example,the question recomposer 214 may recompose a multiple choice or multipleselection survey question. Before recomposing a multiple choice questionhowever, the question recomposer 214 may determine if available answerchoices associated with the multiple choice question are alreadysuitable for distribution via text message. For instance, a multiplechoice question may include numerical answers such as “1,” “2,” “3,” and“4” or “1,” “10,” “100,” and “1000.” In this case, the questionrecomposer 214 may determine that the available answer choices in themultiple choice question do not need to be recomposed before beingpresented via text message.

In addition to recomposing survey questions of a survey, the questionrecomposer 214 may allow a user creating a survey to view recomposedsurvey questions as the user is composing a survey question. Forexample, if the user is adding a survey question via an onlineinterface, the survey system 102 may display the survey question ascomposed by the user. In addition, the survey system 102 may display therecomposed survey question as it would appear on a mobile device orwithin a text message. Additionally or alternatively, the questionrecomposer 214 may provide the recomposed survey question in a textmessage to the user and allow the user to respond to the recomposedsurvey question. The question recomposer 214 may provide the recomposedsurvey question to the user as part of a test mode where answers by theuser are not included in the results of the survey.

Along similar lines, when the question recomposer 214 provides a previewof a recomposed survey question to the user creating a survey, thequestion recomposer 214 may determine whether a recomposed question iscompatible with the select distribution channel. For example, thequestion recomposer 214 may determine that a recomposed question willnot display via text message (or via another distribution channel) orthat the recomposed survey question will be displayed in a manner thatmay be confusing or unpleasant when presented via text message. Uponmaking the determination, the question recomposer 214 may notify or warnthe user that a survey question is not able to be recomposed for aselected distribution channel (e.g., specifically notify the user thatthe survey question is too long, or the survey question type does notlend itself to the new format of the selected distribution channel). Insuch a case, the survey system 102 may allow the user to manuallyrecompose the survey question. For instance, the question recomposer 214may provide the user with suggestions or alternative approaches torephrase or reformat the survey questions, as described below.Additionally, or alternatively, the question recomposer 214 mayautomatically recompose the survey question specifically for theselected distribution channel, delete the survey question, or skip thesurvey question when administering the survey via the selecteddistribution channel.

Similarly, if the question recomposer 214 is recomposing a surveyquestion after a user has created a survey, the question recomposer 214may skip a survey question that is not presentable via the selecteddistribution channel. For example, the question recomposer 214 maydetermine that a recomposed survey question is not presentable via textmessage. As such the question recomposer 214 may notify the surveysystem 102 and the survey system 102 may skip to the next presentablesurvey question via text message. Further, the question recomposer 214may notify the creator of the survey or a survey administrator of theincompatibility.

In some example embodiments, after the question recomposer 214 hasrecomposed a survey question to be sent via a select distributionchannel, the distribution channel manager 206 (described above) can sendand receive the recomposed survey question. Depending on the propertiesof the selected distribution channel, the distribution channel manager206 may send and receive individual recomposed survey questions, in aserial manner, as described below. Alternatively, in some embodiments,the distribution channel manager 206 may send and receive multiplesurvey questions at one time.

In one or more embodiments, the distribution channel manager 206 may notreceive a response to a survey question sent, such as with a surveyquestion or recomposed survey question sent via text message or instantmessage. After a threshold period of time has passed without receiving aresponse (e.g., an hour, a day, two days, a week, etc.), thedistribution channel manager 206 may send another message asking therespondent if the respondent desires to continue the survey, or if therespondent prefers to stop the survey. If the respondent desires tocontinue the survey, the distribution channel manager 206 may resend thelast survey question response. Alternatively, if the respondent does notrespond or responds to stop the survey, the distribution channel manager206 may send a confirmation that the survey is terminated for therespondent.

Once the distribution channel manager 206 receives a response, to arecomposed survey question, the composition manager 208 may validate theresponse. In particular, the response validator 216 may validate theresponse received from a respondent within a text message. As describedbelow in additional detail, the response validator 216 may determinewhether a text message response to a survey question or a recomposedsurvey question is valid. Additional detail of verifying responses isprovided with respect to FIG. 4.

The response validator 216 may validate a response based on a number offactors. As one example, the response validator 216 may determine if aresponse is empty, blank, or contains bad data. If the responsevalidator 216 determines that a response does not include a plausibleanswer (e.g., the response is empty, blank, or nonsensical), theresponse validator 216 may identify the response as invalid.

When the response validator 216 determines that a response is invalid,the response validator 216 may send a notification to the respondentindicating the invalid response. The response validator 216 may alsoinclude options in the notification that enables the respondent tore-respond to the survey question, skip the survey question, stop thesurvey, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the response validator 216may cause the survey system 102 to resend the survey question, orrecomposed survey question, to the respondent and allow the respondentto provide a valid response.

If the response validator 216 determines that a response includes avalid response, the response validator 216 may further validate theresponse. For example, the response validator 216 can verify that theresponse corresponds to an active or open survey. For instance, theresponse validator 216 may use information from the response to identifythe survey to which that the response corresponds. FIG. 4, describedbelow, provides additional detail regarding the survey system 102identifying the survey to which the response corresponds.

In some cases, the response validator 216 may determine the survey thatthe respondent is attempting to respond to has timed-out or expired. Inother cases, the response validator 216 may determine that the responsedoes not correspond to an active survey. For instance, the responsevalidator 216 may receive a text message from a respondent that does notcorrespond to a survey being administered by the survey system 102. Inthis case, the survey system 102 may indicate, for example, via amessage, to the respondent that the response is invalid. Further, thesurvey system 102 may provide information, such as an activation code,to the respondent to allow the respondent to start a new survey session.

Further, when the survey system 102 receives a response to a recomposedsurvey question, the response validator 216 may determine whether theresponse answers a recomposed survey question by including a selectionof one of the available recomposed answer choices. For example, theresponse validator 216 may compare the response to the availablerecomposed answer choices to identify a match. If the response matchesone of the available recomposed answer choices, the response validator216 can determine that the response is a valid response.

In addition, the response validator 216 may determine if the responseincludes only one answer, or if the response includes multiple answers.The response validator 216 may match the response to the recomposedsurvey question to determine if the recomposed survey question allowsfor the selection of multiple answers, and if so, whether the multipleanswers are plausible answers. For example, if the recomposed survey isa multiple selection question, then a response can validly includemultiple answers. In another instance, the response validator 216 maydetect that the response includes multiple answers, but that themultiple answers correspond to each other. To illustrate, a validresponse to a recomposed survey question may be “1” where “1” refers toan answer to the recomposed question (mapped to the available answerchoice of “Cat” in the survey question). In addition, the answer of“Cat” may also be a valid answer choice of the same survey question.

As shown in FIG. 2, the survey system 102 may include a results database210. The results database 210 may be made up of a single database ormultiple databases. In addition, the results database 210 may be locatedwithin the survey system 102. Alternatively, the results database 210may be external to the survey system 102, such as in cloud storage.Further, the results database 210 may store and provide data andinformation to the survey system 102, as further described below.

The results database 210 may include surveys 220, such as surveyscreated via the survey manager 204. Further, the results database 210may also include surveys imported from third-party sources. In addition,the results database 210 may store information about each survey, suchas parameters and preferences that correspond to each survey. Forexample, when a user creates a survey and specifies that the survey beadministered via a selected distribution channel, the results database210 may record the user's specified selection.

Each survey may have a survey identifier (or simply “survey ID”) toprovide unique identification. In some cases, the surveys may beorganized according to survey ID. Alternatively, surveys 220 in theresults database 210 may be organized according to other criteria, suchas creation date, last modified date, closing time, most recent results,etc. Further, the results database 210 may associate access codes with asurvey ID, such that the survey system 102 can identify to which surveya response corresponds when the response includes an access code.

As described below, in one or more embodiments, the survey system 102may associate a survey ID with a survey token. A survey token mayidentify when a particular respondent is completing a particular survey.In some cases, survey tokens may also correspond to the distributionchannel a respondent is using to respond to a survey. For example, whena respondent is completing a survey via text message, the survey system102 may create and store a token that includes the originating address(e.g., the outgoing number the survey system 102 is using to send thesurvey) and the destination address (e.g., the respondent's number towhich the survey system 102 is sending the survey). In this manner, whena respondent is completing a survey, the survey system 102 may associatea survey token to the survey, and thus link the respondent to thesurvey. In the instance that the survey system 102 has multiple outgoingnumbers, the survey system 102 can maintain a record of each survey inwhich the respondent is participating.

In a similar manner, the survey system 102 can also use the resultsdatabase 210 to maintain a record of a respondent's progress within asurvey. In particular, the results database 210 may store the surveyquestion that a respondent is currently answering. For example, if arespondent has completed three out of five questions on a survey, thesurvey system 102 may include a record in the results database 210 ofthe participant's current progress. In particular, the survey system 102may note that the respondent has answered the first two questions, beenprovided the third question, and has not yet answered the third questionor subsequent questions.

As shown in FIG. 2, the surveys 220 may include questions 222 andresults 224. More specifically, each survey may include a set ofquestions 222. The survey system 102 may store the questions grouped bysurvey. Further, each question may have a unique question identifier (orsimply “question ID”). In some cases, the question ID may also identifythe survey to which the question belongs. For example, all questionsfrom a particular survey may include the survey ID within the questionID.

Further, each question may be associated with a set of results, or acompilation of answers associated with the question. Accordingly, alongwith questions 222, the surveys 220 may include results 224. When arespondent provides an answer to a survey question, the survey system102 may add the answer as part of the results 224. As such, the results224 may include a cumulative set of answers for a survey question.Further, each result may have a unique results identifier (or simply“result ID”). In some instances, the result ID may identify the surveyand/or the question to which the result corresponds. For instance, basedon the result ID, the survey system 102 is able to identify thecorresponding question and/or the survey.

FIG. 3 illustrates a sequence-flow method 300 showing the survey system102 administrating a survey to a client device 104. The survey system102 and the client device 104 shown in FIG. 3 may each be exampleembodiments of the survey system 102 and the client device 104 describedwith regard to FIG. 1. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the survey system102 may include a survey manager 204 and a composition manager 208. Thesurvey manager 204 and the composition manager 208 shown in FIG. 3 maybe example embodiments of the survey manager 204 and the compositionmanager 208 described in connection with FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the survey system 102 may receive a request toadminister a survey. In particular, as shown in step 302, the surveymanager 204 may receive a request to administer a survey created for afirst distribution channel on a second distribution channel. Forexample, a user may request that the survey system 102 administer asurvey created as an online survey via text message.

In step 304, the survey manager 204 may send the survey created for thefirst distribution channel to the composition manager 208. Inparticular, the survey manager 204 may detect that the user wants toadminister the survey on a distribution channel other than thedistribution channel for which the survey was created, and as a result,may send the survey over to the composition manager 208 to recompose oneor more survey questions. For instance, the survey manager 204 may sendthe survey over to the composition manager 208 to recompose the surveyquestions for presentation on the second distribution channel via textmessage, such as SMS or instant messaging.

Upon receiving the survey, the composition manager 208 may recompose oneor more survey questions to be presented on the second distributionchannel, as step 306 illustrates. More specifically, the compositionmanager 208 may determine whether a survey question in the survey iscurrently suitable for the second distribution channel. Additionally,the composition manager may determine, based on the survey questiontype, that a recomposed survey question may enable a respondent tobetter answer the survey question. As described above, the compositionmanager 208 may determine whether to recompose a survey question basedon the question type of the survey question and/or based on the type ofavailable answer choice (e.g., numerical answers) for the surveyquestion. Additionally, as descried above, in some example embodiments,the composition manager 208 may recompose a single survey question intomultiple recomposed survey questions.

Based on the determination to recompose a survey question within thesurvey, the composition manager 208 may recompose the survey question tobe presented on the second distribution channel. For instance, thecomposition manager 208 may recompose a survey question to be presentedvia text message, as described above. Further examples of recomposingsurvey questions are provided below in connection with FIGS. 5A-8B.

In some example embodiments, a survey question needs to be convertedfrom a first protocol format to a second protocol format before thesurvey question can be sent via the second distribution channel. Inparticular, if the survey system 102 is sending a survey question(including a recomposed survey question) via text message, the surveysystem 102 may need to convert the survey question to another protocol,such as SMS. As step 308 illustrates, the survey system 102 may convertone or more survey questions for the second distribution channel.Further, as described above, in one or more embodiments, the surveysystem 102 may employ a third-party service to convert and distributethe survey questions via text message.

After recomposing and/or converting the protocol of the survey question,the survey system 102 may administer the survey to one or morerespondents. In particular, as shown in step 310, the compositionmanager 208 may administer one or more survey questions via the seconddistribution channel to the client device 104. For instance, thecomposition manager 208 may send a text message including a surveyquestion or a recomposed survey question to a respondent associated withthe client device 104. While FIG. 3 illustrates one client device 104,the composition manager 208 may send, via text message, one or moresurvey questions to multiple respondents associated with multiple clientdevices.

As part of administering the survey via the second distribution channelin step 310, the survey system 102 may receive responses from the clientdevice 104. More specifically, the composition manager 208 may receive aresponse from the client device 104 via text message. The response mayinclude an answer to the recomposed survey question previously sent tothe client device 104. As illustrated in step 312, the compositionmanager 208 may validate the received responses to the one or moresurvey questions. As briefly described above, the composition manager208 may confirm that a response is not blank or empty, that the responsecorresponds to an active survey, and that the response includes anavailable answer. Further, FIG. 4, which is described below, provides amore detailed example of validating responses received from respondents.

After validating the responses received from the client device 104, thecomposition manager 208 may determine survey answers from the validresponses, shown in step 314. For example, as described above, thecomposition manager 208 may determine if a response includes a directanswer to a survey question, or an indication of an answer to arecomposed survey question. To illustrate, if the survey system 102 senta non-recomposed survey question to a respondent, then the response cancontain a direct answer to the survey question. In contrast, however, ifthe survey system 102 sent a recomposed survey question to a respondent,the response may contain an indication of an answer to the recomposedsurvey question, which serves as an indication of the actual answer tothe survey question.

For example, if the recomposed survey question includes availablerecomposed answer choices, which append number or letters to theavailable answer choice of the survey question, the respondent mayinclude a number or letter in their response. As such, the number orletter in the response serves as an indication of one of the availableanswer choices to the survey question. The composition manager 208 mayuse the indication of the recomposed survey question to determine theanswer to the survey question. In some example embodiments, a responseto a recomposed survey question may include an actual answer to thesurvey question, as described above. In any case, the compositionmanager 208 may analyze a valid response, and determine a survey answerfrom the response.

In step 316, the composition manager 208 may send survey answers to thesurvey manager 204. In some cases, the composition manager 208 may storethe answers in a database, such as a results database. When this occurs,the composition manager 208 may send an indication to the survey manager204 that the answers to one or more survey questions are stored in theresults database. In other cases, the composition manager 208 may sendanswers individually to the survey manager 204 as the answers arereceived. Alternatively, the composition manager 208 may collect aplurality of answers to various survey questions before sending theanswers to the survey manager 204.

The survey manager 204 may validate answers corresponding one or moresurvey questions, as step 318 illustrates. For example, the surveymanager 204 can verify that, depending on the survey question, thecorrect number of answers is given. Further, the survey manager 204 mayverify that the answers provided by the composition manager 208 satisfythe one or more survey questions to which they correspond.

As illustrated in step 320, after validating the one or more answers,the survey manager 204 may determine survey results from the validanswers. As described above, the survey manager 204 may compile numerousanswers to a survey question into results for the survey question. Usingthe results for each survey question, the survey manager 204 can presentthe results to a user that created the survey or that is reviewing thesurvey results. Further, as described above, the survey manager 204 maypresent results to each survey question, or the survey as a whole,regardless of the distribution channel used to administer the one ormore survey questions, or if the one or more survey questions wereprovided to different respondents via different distribution channels.

FIG. 4 illustrates a sequence-flow method 400 showing the survey system102 validating responses to a survey question received from a clientdevice 104. The survey system 102 and the client device 104 shown inFIG. 4 may each be example embodiments of the survey system 102 and theclient device 104 described with regard to FIG. 1. Further, as shown inFIG. 4, the survey system 102 may include a composition manager 208. Thecomposition manager 208 shown in FIG. 4 may be an example embodiment ofthe composition manager 208 described in connection with FIG. 2.

Additionally, the steps in FIG. 4 may provide additional explanation anddetail to the steps described in connection with FIG. 3. In particular,the steps in FIG. 4 may, in some example embodiments, correspond to step310 (i.e., administering one or more survey questions via the seconddistribution channel), step 312 (i.e., validating received responses),and step 314 (i.e., determining survey answers from the validresponses).

To illustrate, step 402 in FIG. 4 illustrates the composition manager208 of the survey system 102 sending a recomposed survey question to theclient device 104 via the second distribution channel. For instance, thecomposition manager 208 may send the recomposed survey question via textmessage to a respondent associated with the client device 104. Therespondent may receive the recomposed survey question and provide aresponse. Accordingly, the client device 104 may send a response to therecomposed survey question back to the composition manager 208. As shownin step 404, the composition manager 208 may receive a response to therecomposed survey question from the client device 104.

Upon receiving the response to the recomposed survey question, thecomposition manager 208 may identify a survey associated with theresponse, illustrated in step 406. As such, the survey system 102, inparticular, the composition manager 208, can identify with which surveya response is associated. Further, because each response is receivedindependently, the survey system 102 can identify which survey aresponse corresponds each time the survey system 102 receives aresponse.

To identify the survey to which a text message response corresponds, thecomposition manager 208 may use information gathered from the response,such as the respondent's address (e.g., the address or phone number ofthe client device 104) and the survey system's address (e.g., theaddress or number of the survey system 102). Using the addressinformation, the composition manager 208 may generate or identify asurvey token. The composition manager 208 may provide the survey tokento the survey system 102 and the survey system 102 may return the surveyID of the survey associated with the response. In particular, the surveysystem 102, upon receiving the survey token, may look up the surveytoken in a database, such as the results database described above, andmay identify the survey ID and, in some cases, the respondent associatedwith the survey token.

In one or more embodiments, the survey system 102 may provide anindication to the composition manager 208 that the survey associatedwith the survey token is active. Alternatively, the survey system 102may indicate that the survey token is associated with an expired,inactive, or closed survey. Additionally, the survey system 102 mayindicate to the composition manager 208 that the survey token does notcorrespond to a known survey on the survey system 102. Based on theinformation provided by the survey system 102, the composition manager208 may continue validating the response, or send a message to theclient device 104 indicating that the response does not correspond to anactive or valid survey.

As briefly described above, the survey system 102 may use multipleaddresses in connection with a distribution channel. For example, thesurvey system 102 may use a plurality of short code numbers and/or longcode numbers to send out survey questions and receive responses. If thesurvey system 102 uses a different outgoing address each time it sendsout a different survey, each survey token can correspond to a survey andwill not overlap.

If, however, the survey system 102 is limited in the number of addressesthrough which it can administer multiple surveys (e.g., the surveysystem 102 on has a single address), the survey system 102 can senddifferent surveys to a respondent using the same outgoing anddestination numbers. As a result, the survey token consisting of thesurvey system's address and the respondent's address may refer tomultiple surveys and the survey token could no longer be used toidentify a particular survey. As one solution to this issue, the surveysystem 102 may limit the number of surveys in which a respondent cansimultaneously participate to the number of outgoing addresses thesurvey system 102 has per distribution channel. For example, if thesurvey system 102 has five text messaging numbers, the survey system 102may limit a respondent to participating in only five surveys at onetime. If the survey system 102 has one text messaging number, the surveysystem 102 may limit a respondent's participation to only one survey atone time. In this manner, if the respondent desires to participate in anaddition survey, the respondent must finish or quit an existing survey.

As another solution, the survey system 102 may request that therespondent include a unique identifier in each response. For example, arespondent often sends an access code to the survey system 102 toinitiate a survey via text message, such as the access code “survey” or“demo” (e.g., “Text ‘survey’ to 55555 to take a short survey”). Inresponse, the survey system 102 initiates a survey with the respondentvia text message. In one or more embodiments, the survey system 102 mayalso request that a respondent provide the access code, or anotheridentifier code, with each response. For instance, the survey system 102may, for example, request that a respondent include “S1” in eachresponse to indicate to the survey system 102 that the responsecorresponds to Survey1. In this manner, the survey system 102 may usethe identifier code along with the sender's address and the respondent'saddress to create a survey ID and identify the survey to which aresponse corresponds. Further, the survey system 102 may use the sameoutgoing address to maintain multiple surveys with a respondent at thesame time.

In the event that the survey system 102 requests that a respondentinclude the access code or another identifier code in a text messageresponse, the composition manager 208 can include the identifier code ineach question as a reminder to the respondent to include the code.Further, the composition manager 208 may send a text message back to arespondent when a response does not include the identifier code. Forinstance, the composition manager 208 may send a message saying, “I'mnot sure what question you are trying to answer. Please resend youranswer along with the survey code shown in the question.”

In yet another alternative embodiment, the composition manager 208 mayrecompose questions such that the selected recomposed answer is uniqueto all other possible answers in the survey system 102. For example, ifa survey question has three available answer choices, the compositionmanager 208 may recompose each of the available answer choices intoavailable recomposed answer choices that are coded based on the surveyID, question ID, and available answer choice. In this manner, thecomposition manager 208 may use the response to identify the survey towhich the response corresponds, the current question the respondent isanswering, and the answer the respondent selected. While this approachmay not be ideal for surveys administered via text message, thisapproach may be beneficial for surveys administered via alternativedistribution channels.

Returning to FIG. 4, once the composition manager 208 has identified thesurvey to which the response corresponds, the composition manager 208may then identify the question associated with the identified survey, asstep 408 illustrates. For example, the composition manager 208 mayprovide the survey ID and the survey token to the survey system 102, andthe survey system 102 may return the survey question to which therespondent is currently responding. To illustrate, the survey system 102may use the survey ID and the survey token to look up in a database,such as the results database, the question the respondent is currentlyanswering, and return the question to the composition manager 208.

In some additional or alternative cases, the survey system 102 mayreturn the recomposed survey question to the composition manager 208.For example, upon identifying the survey question associated with theresponse, the survey system 102 may also identify that the response wasreceived via the second distribution channel. Further, the survey system102 may identify a corresponding recomposed survey question associatedwith the survey question that has been recomposed for the seconddistribution channel. Accordingly, the survey system 102 may send therecomposed survey question to the composition manager 208 uponidentifying the composed survey question. Alternatively, rather thanreceiving the recomposed survey question from the survey system 102, thecomposition manager 208 may use the survey question received from thesurvey system 102 and recompose the survey question, as described above.

Using the identified question, the composition manager 208 can determineif the received response is valid for the identified survey question, asshown in step 410. More specifically, the composition manager 208 maydetermine if the response contains an answer to the recomposed surveyquestion. In some example embodiments, the composition manager 208 maycompare the response to the available recomposed answer choices todetermine whether the response matches one of the available recomposedanswer choices.

If the composition manager 208 does not identify a match, thecomposition manager 208 may determine that the response is not valid forthe identified question. Based on the composition manager 208 detectingan invalid response, the composition manager 208 may send a message tothe client device 104 indicating an invalid response, as step 412illustrates. The message may be a text message and may provide therespondent an opportunity to re-respond to the recomposed surveyquestion. In some cases, the composition manager 208 may resend therecomposed survey question to the client device 104. When the respondentagain replies, the composition manager 208 may receive an updatedresponse to the recomposed survey question, as shown in step 414. Thecomposition manager 208 may again validate the response (e.g., repeatsteps 406-410).

In some additional embodiments, the composition manager 208 may interactwith the respondent to arrive at a valid answer. To illustrate, therecomposed survey question may prompt the respondent to enter a date.The recomposed survey question may allow the respondent to enter“Today,” “Yesterday,” or manually input a date. If the compositionmanager 208 receives a response that says “March 15,” the compositionmanager 208 may send a follow up message asking the respondent to entera year or to confirm that the full date is “Mar. 15, 2015.” Once thecomposition manager 208 confirms the date with the responded, thecomposition manager 208 may determine that the response is valid.

As step 416 illustrates, based on the composition manager 208determining that the response is valid, the composition manager 208 maydetermine an answer to the survey question. As described above, thecomposition manager 208 may use the answer to the recomposed surveyquestion to determine the answer to the survey question. For example,the composition manager 208 may use the mapping between the availableanswer choices of the survey question and the available recomposedanswer choices of the recomposed survey question to identify the answerto the survey question selected by the respondent.

FIG. 5A illustrates an example multiple choice survey question 502composed for presentation on a first distribution channel. Inparticular, the multiple choice survey question 502 in FIG. 5A includesa question 502 a and available answer choices 502 b. For purposes ofexplanation, the multiple choice survey question 502 has the answer“neutral” selected.

A user may compose the multiple choice survey question 502 using toolsprovided by a survey system. For example, the survey system may provideonline-based tools that help the user created a survey and composesurvey questions. The survey system may allow a user to compose surveyquestions for a first distribution channel (e.g., online distributionvia a website), such as the survey question shown in FIG. 5A even whenthe user selects an option to have the survey system to administer thesurvey via a second distribution channel (e.g., via text message). Ifthe user selects the option to administer the survey via a seconddistribution channel, the survey system may automatically recompose thesurvey question 502 to be presented via the second distribution channel.

FIGS. 5B-5F illustrate examples of recomposed survey questions 504-512for presentation on a second distribution channel. In particular, FIG.5B illustrates a recomposed survey question 504 where the question 504 ais the same as the question 502 a in the survey question 502 shown inFIG. 5A. The available recomposed answer choices 504 b in FIG. 5B mayalso correspond to the available answer choices 502 b shown in FIG. 5A.The available recomposed answer choices 504 b, however, may also includenumbers associated with each of the available answer choices 502 b ofthe survey question 502. For example, the first available recomposedanswer choice is “1—very satisfied.” To answer the recomposed surveyquestion 504, a respondent need only respond with the number “1” toindicate the answer of “very satisfied.”

In some example embodiments, in addition to associating number orletters with available answer choices, the survey system may modify thequestion and/or available answer choices of a recomposed surveyquestion. For example, FIG. 5C illustrates a recomposed survey question506 where the available recomposed answer choices 506 b have beentruncated. In particular, the survey system removes qualifier words like“somewhat” or “very.”

In some instances, the survey system may additionally, or in thealternative, modify the question 506 a as well. For instance, the surveysystem may modify a recomposed survey question to fit within a textmessage. For example, some text message protocols, such as SMS, limittext messages to 160 characters. Other protocols may limit messages tomore or less characters. Further, the survey system may truncate aquestion or available recomposed answer choices with a recomposed surveyquestion to better ensure that the recomposed survey question fitswithin the display of a client device. Displays on some client devicesmay be smaller in size, and thus, a shorter recomposed survey questionmay better suit these client devices.

As shown in the recomposed survey question 508 of FIG. 5D, the surveysystem may omit one or more available recomposed answer choices 508 b.For example, the survey system may omit the intermediary availableanswer choices of “somewhat satisfied” and “somewhat dissatisfied.” Insome example embodiments, the survey system may allow a respondent toprovide a response of “2” or “4” and the survey system will map thoseresponses to “somewhat satisfied” and “somewhat dissatisfied”respectively. In other embodiments, the survey system may only allow theresponses “1,” “3,” and “5.” In still other embodiments, whenrecomposing the survey question, the survey system may remove theavailable answer choices of “somewhat satisfied” and “somewhatdissatisfied,” and then provide available recomposed answer choices of“1-satisfied,” “2-neither,” and “3-dissatisfied.”

In one or more embodiments, the survey system may recompose a surveyquestion by folding the available answer choices into the surveyquestion. To illustrate, the recomposed survey question 510 in FIG. 5Edisplays the question 510 a, which has incorporated the available answerchoices into the question 510 a. While folding in the available answersinto the question 510 a may appear to change the question type, thesurvey system may properly associate the response to the recomposedsurvey question 510 to an available answer choice 502 b of the surveyquestion 502 even though the survey question 502 and the recomposedsurvey question 510 are different question types.

In some cases, incorporating the available answer choices 502 b from thesurvey question 502 into the question may reduce the overall length ofthe question. In other cases, however, shortening the question 510 a toomuch may lead to confusion for a user or may change the outcome of theanswer. For example, depending on the available answer choices in thesurvey question, incorporating the available answer choices into thequestion may change the nature of the question such that the respondentis prompted to provide a response that does not map to one of theavailable answer choices.

In some example embodiments, the survey system may remove or changeavailable answers from a survey question altogether when recomposing thesurvey question. For example, if a survey question is “What type of petsdo you own?” and the available answer choices are “dog,” “cat,” bird,”and “fish,” the survey system may recompose the survey question to “Whattype of pets do you own?” If the respondent includes one of theavailable answer choices in their response, the survey system may usethose provided answer to update the results of the survey question.Otherwise, the survey system may dismiss or otherwise store the answersprovided by the respondent (e.g., as an “other” option or as the actualanswer provided).

In some example embodiments, the survey system may first provide therecomposed survey question 510 shown in FIG. 5E to a respondent. If therespondent does not provide a valid response, or requests help from thesurvey system in responding to the recomposed survey question 510, thesurvey system may provide another recomposed survey question for thesame survey question, such as the recomposed survey question 504 shownin FIG. 5B or the recomposed survey question 504 shown in FIG. 5C.

In one or more additional embodiments, the survey system may recompose asurvey question by replacing available answer choice with substituteavailable recomposed answer choices. As shown in FIG. 5F, the surveysystem may replace the available answer choice 502 b of the surveyquestion 502 in a recomposed survey question 512 with numbers and/orgraphics. Respondents are commonly using graphics or symbols, such asemojis, smileys, and ideograms in text messages. In many cases, arespondent's client device will automatically display graphics in placeof certain strings of text (e.g., converts “:)” into a smiley facegraphic). Accordingly, the survey system may recompose a survey questionand allow a respondent to answer the recomposed survey question usinggraphics.

FIG. 6A illustrates an example matrix survey question 602 composed forpresentation on a first distribution channel. The matrix survey question602 includes a question 602 a and available answer choices 602 b.Further, the matrix survey question 602 is composed for a respondent toanswer via a first distribution channel, such as part of an onlinesurvey. When a respondent answers the matrix survey question 602 via thefirst distribution channel, the respondent may rate, using availableanswer choices 602 b, multiple aspects of the question 602 a at onetime. As described above, if a user desires to provide a matrix questionvia a second distribution channel, such as text message, the surveysystem may be unable to provide the matrix survey question to arespondent.

FIG. 6B illustrates an example of recomposed survey questions 604-608for presentation on a second distribution channel. As shown in FIG. 6B,the survey system may recompose the matrix survey question 602 of FIG.6A by separating the matrix survey question 602 into multiple recomposedsurvey questions 604-608. By separating the survey question 602 intothree recomposed survey questions 604-608, the survey system may nowdistribute the recomposed survey questions 604-608 via the seconddistribution channel (e.g., via text message).

As shown in FIG. 6B, the multiple recomposed survey questions 604-608may break down the question 602 a in the survey question 602 of FIG. 6Ainto separate recomposed questions 604 a, 606 a, and 608 a. In addition,the multiple recomposed survey questions 604-608 may also recompose theavailable answer choices 602 b into available recomposed answer choices604 b, 606 b, 608 b, as described above, to include numbers to allow arespondent to simply and easily respond to each recomposed surveyquestion 604-608. For example, in recomposed survey question 604, theavailable recomposed answer choices 604 b include “1-satisfied,”“2-neutral,” and “3-dissatisfied.”

When the survey system recomposes a survey question into multiplerecomposed survey questions for presentation on a second distributionchannel, the survey system may send each recomposed survey questionindividually. For example, the survey system may send the firstrecomposed survey question 604 via text message to a respondent. Oncethe survey system receives a reply, the survey system may send thesecond recomposed survey question 606 to the respondent, and so forth.When all the recomposed survey questions for a survey question arereceived and validated, the survey system may determine the answer(s) tothe survey question and update the results for the survey question.

FIG. 7A illustrates an example multiple selection survey question 702composed for presentation on a first distribution channel. As shown inFIG. 7A, the multiple selection survey question 702 may include aquestion 702 a and available answer choices 702 b. Further, the multipleselection survey question 702 is composed for a respondent to answer viaa first distribution channel, such as part of an online survey. Whenresponding to the multiple selection survey question 702, a respondentmay select multiple answers from the available answer choices 702 b. Insome cases, a respondent may select all of the available answer choices702 b.

As briefly described above, the survey system may recompose the multipleselection survey question 702 for distribution on a second distributionchannel. For example, FIGS. 7B-7C illustrate examples of recomposedsurvey questions 704-710 for presentation on a second distributionchannel (e.g., via text message). More specifically, as shown in therecomposed survey question 704 of FIG. 7B, the survey system mayrecompose the multiple selection survey question 702 by rewriting thequestion 702 a into a recomposed question 704 a, and assigning numbersto each of the available answer choices 702 a as part of the availablerecomposed answer choices 704 b.

As an alternative, the survey system may separate the multiple selectionsurvey question 702 into separate recomposed survey questions 706-710for each available answer choice 702 a, as shown in FIG. 7C. Inparticular, the survey system may recompose the question 702 a intoseparate recomposed questions 706 a, 708 a, and 710 a. Further, thesurvey system can recompose the available answer choices 702 b intosimply yes or no available recomposed answer choices, where a respondentcan respond with either the number “1” or “2,” or the words “yes” or“no” (shown as available recomposed answer choices 706 b, 708 b, 710 b).In some instances, the survey system may also accept a response of “y”or “n” to the recomposed survey questions.

As with the matrix survey question, the survey system may separate amultiple selection survey question into separate recomposed surveyquestions. The survey system may send each recomposed survey questionand receive a corresponding response before sending the next recomposedsurvey question. Further, the survey system may wait for valid responsesto each recomposed survey question before combining the responses andupdating the results for the survey question.

In some example embodiments, whether the survey system separates amultiple selection survey question into separate recomposed surveyquestions may be based on the number of available answer choices 702 b.For example, when the survey question includes less than a threshold ofavailable answer choices (e.g., less than five), the survey system mayrecompose the survey question into a single recomposed survey question.If the survey question includes more than a threshold of availableanswer choices (e.g., five or more), the survey system may recompose thesurvey question into a multiple recomposed survey question.Additionally, the survey system may determine whether to separate amultiple selection survey question into separate recomposed surveyquestions based on the length of the multiple survey question and theprotocols of the selected distribution channel. In some exampleembodiments, the survey system may separate a multiple survey questioninto multiple recomposed survey questions, such as multiple recomposedsurvey questions that are designed like the recomposed survey question704 illustrated in FIG. 7B.

FIG. 8A illustrates an example heat map survey question 802 composed forpresentation on a first distribution channel. The heat map surveyquestion 802 includes a question 802 a and an answer area 802 b.Further, the heat map survey question 802 is composed for a respondentto answer via a first distribution channel, such as part of an onlinesurvey. As described above, the heat map survey question 802 may providean image 802 c that allows a respondent to select a location within theimage 802 c. To illustrate, as shown in FIG. 8A, the heat map surveyquestion 802 displays an image 802 c of a bicycle with the question 802a “Where would you put our company's logo on the product shown below?”and the instruction for the responded to select an area of the image 802c. To respond to the heat map survey question 802, the respondentprovides a selection within the answer selection area 804 b positionwhere he or she would place the logo.

While the survey system may provide a heat map survey question 802 viacertain distribution channels, such as when administering a surveyonline, the survey system may be unable to present the heat map surveyquestion 802 via another distribution channel, such as via text message.Accordingly, the survey system may recompose the heat map surveyquestion 802 for presentation on a second distribution channel.

To illustrate, FIG. 8B shows an example of a recomposed heat map surveyquestion 804 for presentation on a second distribution channel. Forexample, the recomposed heat map survey question 804 in FIG. 8B includesa recomposed question 804 a and an answer grid 804 b. In particular, asshown in FIG. 8B, the recomposed heat map survey question 804 displaysan image 802 c of a bicycle. Within the recomposed survey question 804,the recomposed question 804 a includes a prompt, such as “Where wouldyou put our company's logo on the product shown below?” along with theinstruction for the responded to provide coordinates where therespondent would place the logo. The answer grid 804 b may displaynumbers and letters in a grid pattern around the image 804 c to allow arespondent to provide an indication of where he or she would place thelogo. Accordingly, the survey system may allow a respondent to providean answer to a heat map question 802 via text message, where the heatmap survey question 802 was originally composed for online surveys.Further, the survey system may obtain an answer to the heat map surveyquestion 802 via text message without requiring the user that createdthe survey to intervene (e.g., rewrite or delete the survey question, orhave the survey system skip the survey question when the survey questionis provided via the second distribution channel).

FIGS. 1-8, the corresponding text, and the examples, provide a number ofdifferent systems, devices, and graphical user interfaces foradministering survey questions to respondents via a distribution channelother than the distribution channel for which the survey question wascreated. In addition to the foregoing, embodiments disclosed herein alsocan be described in terms of flowcharts comprising acts and steps in amethod for accomplishing a particular result. For example, FIGS. 9-10illustrates flowcharts of exemplary methods in accordance with one ormore embodiments disclosed herein. The methods described in relation toFIGS. 9-10 can be performed with less or more steps/acts or thesteps/acts can be performed in differing orders. Additionally, thesteps/acts described herein can be repeated or performed in parallelwith one another or in parallel with different instances of the same orsimilar steps/acts.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method 900 fordistributing a survey via an additional distribution channel. The method900 can be implemented by the survey system 102 described above. Themethod 900 involves an act 902 of identifying a survey question composedto be presented via a first distribution channel. In particular, the act902 may involve identifying a question type of a survey questioncomposed to be presented via a first distribution channel, where thesurvey question is associated with a survey. In some exampleembodiments, the first distribution channel may be an onlinedistribution channel. Further, in one or more embodiments, the act 902may involve identifying whether the survey question is a multiple choicequestion, a rating scale question, a drop down selection question, amatrix selection question, or an open-ended/open response question.

In addition, the method 900 involves an act 904 of recomposing thesurvey question to be presented on a second distribution channel. Inparticular, the act 904 may involve recomposing the survey question tobe presented on a second distribution channel based on the identifiedquestion type of the survey question. In some instances, the seconddistribution channel may include text messaging, such as SMS. Further,in one or more embodiments, the act 904 may involve recomposing thesurvey question into a plurality of recomposed survey questions. In someexample embodiments, the act 904 may involve determining whether thesurvey question is compatible with (e.g., able to be recomposed for)presentation on the second distribution channel.

Further, the method 900 involves an act 906 of providing the recomposedsurvey question via the second distribution channel. In particular, theact 906 may involve providing, to a client device 104 associated with arespondent, the recomposed survey question via the second distributionchannel. For example, the act 906 may involve the survey system 102sending the recomposed survey question to a client device 104 via textmessage.

The method 900 also involves an act 908 of receiving a response to therecomposed survey question. In particular, the act 908 may involvereceiving, from the client device 104 and via the second distributionchannel, a response to the recomposed survey question. In some exampleembodiments, receiving the response to the recomposed survey questionfrom the client device 104 and via the second distribution channel mayinvolve receiving a plurality of responses corresponding to theplurality of recomposed survey questions.

The method 900 involves an act 910 of determining an answer to thesurvey question based on the response. In particular, the act 910 mayinvolve determining an answer to the survey question based on thereceived response to the recomposed survey question. In one or moreembodiments, the act 910 may involve determining that the response tothe recomposed survey question includes a selected recomposed answerfrom the plurality of available recomposed answer choices, and furtherinvolve identifying the answer to the survey question that correspondsto the selected recomposed answer of the recomposed survey question.

The method 900 involves an act 912 of updating results with the answerto the survey question. In particular, the act 912 may involve updatingresults corresponding to the survey with the answer to the surveyquestion. For example, the act 912 may include a survey system 102updating the results for the survey question and presenting the resultsto one or more survey reviewers.

In addition, the method 900 may involve an act of validating a receivedresponse, and based on the received response not satisfying thevalidation, sending a message to the client device 104 associated withthe respondent to respond to the recomposed survey question with a validresponse. In some example embodiments, the method 900 may involve an actof determining that the survey question does not need to be recomposedbefore being sent to the respondent via the second distribution channelbased on the identified question type of the survey question.

In one or more embodiments, the method 900 may include the act ofdetermining that the survey question comprises a plurality of availableanswer choices. In these embodiments, the method 900 may also involvemapping the plurality of available answer choices in the survey questionto a plurality of available recomposed answer choices in the recomposedsurvey question, where the plurality of available recomposed answerchoices are each unique and/or sequential numbers.

In some example embodiments, the method 900 may involve the act ofvalidating the response to the recomposed survey question. Uponvalidating the response to the recomposed survey question anddetermining the answer to the survey question, the method 900 may alsoinvolve identifying an additional survey question associated with thesurvey. Further, based on the identified question type of the additionalsurvey question, the method 900 may involve recomposing the additionalsurvey question to be presented on the second distribution channel, andproviding, to the client device associated with the respondent, theadditional recomposed survey question via the second distributionchannel.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method 1000 forrecomposing a survey question based on question type. The method 1000can be implemented by the survey system 102 described above. The method1000 involves an act 1002 of identifying a first question in a surveyhaving a first question type composed to be presented on a firstdistribution channel. In particular, the act 1002 may involveidentifying a first question in a survey having a first question type,the first question being composed to be presented on a firstdistribution channel. In some example embodiments, the firstdistribution channel may be an online distribution channel.

The method 1000 also involves an act 1004 of recomposing the firstsurvey question to be presented on a second distribution channel. Inparticular, the act 1004 may involve recomposing the first surveyquestion to be presented on a second distribution channel based on thefirst question being identified as the first question type. The act 1004may involve recomposing the first survey question to be presented on asecond distribution channel in any suitable manner as described herein.In some example embodiments, the second distribution channel may includetext messaging, such as SMS and instant messaging.

Further, the method 1000 involves an act 1006 of identifying a secondquestion in the survey having a second question type composed to bepresented on the first distribution channel. In particular, the act 1006may involve identifying a second question in the survey having a secondquestion type, the second question being composed to be presented on thefirst distribution channel.

Additionally, the method 1000 involves an act 1008 of allowing thesecond question to be presented on the second distribution channelwithout being recomposed. In particular, the act 1008 may involveallowing the second question to be presented on the second distributionchannel without being recomposed based on the second question beingidentified as the second question type. For instance, the act 10008 mayinvolve the survey system sending a survey question via text messagewithout recomposing the survey question.

The method 1000 also involves an act 1010 of providing the recomposedfirst survey question and the second survey question via the seconddistribution channel. In particular, the act 1010 may involve providing,to a client device 104 associated with a respondent, the recomposedfirst survey question in a first communication via the seconddistribution channel and the second survey question in a secondcommunication via the second distribution channel. For example, thefirst communication and the second communication may each include a textmessage.

In addition, the method 1000 involves an act 1012 of receiving aresponse to the first recomposed survey question and the second surveyquestion. In particular, the act 1012 may involve receiving, from theclient device and via the second distribution channel, a response to thefirst recomposed survey question and a response to the second surveyquestion. For example, the act 1012 may involve receiving text messagesfrom the client device 104 having responded to the first recomposedsurvey question and the second survey question.

Further, the method 1000 involves an act 1014 of determining a firstanswer to the first survey question and a second answer to the secondsurvey question. In particular, the act 1014 may involve based on thereceived response to the first recomposed survey question and thereceived response to the second survey question, determining a firstanswer to the first survey question and a second answer to the secondsurvey question. In some example embodiments, the act 1014 may involveidentifying an indication of the first answer in the response to thefirst recomposed survey question, determining that the indication of thefirst answer corresponds to the first answer to the first surveyquestion, and identifying the first answer to the first survey question.Further, the act 1014 may involve identifying the response to the secondsurvey question as the second answer.

The method 1000 involves an act 1016 of updating results correspondingto the survey with the first answer and the second answer. Inparticular, the act 1016 may involve updating results corresponding tothe survey with the first answer to the first survey question and thesecond answer to the second survey question.

In one or more embodiments, the method 1000 may also involve providing,to the client device 104 associated with the respondent and via thesecond distribution channel, an option to respond to the first questionvia the first distribution channel. For example, the method 1000 mayinvolve providing a link in a recomposed survey question sent to arespondent via text message to complete the survey or the recomposedsurvey question via a webpage. Similarly, the method 1000 may involveproviding a link in a survey question provided to a respondent via anonline survey to complete the survey or the survey question via textmessage.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may comprise or utilize a specialpurpose or general-purpose computer including computer hardware, suchas, for example, one or more processors and system memory, as discussedin additional detail below. Embodiments within the scope of the presentdisclosure also include physical and other computer-readable media forcarrying or storing computer-executable instructions and/or datastructures. In particular, one or more of the processes described hereinmay be implemented at least in part as instructions embodied in anon-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by one or morecomputing devices (e.g., any of the media content access devicesdescribed herein). In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor)receives instructions, from a non-transitory computer-readable medium,(e.g., a memory, etc.), and executes those instructions, therebyperforming one or more processes, including one or more of the processesdescribed herein.

Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby a general purpose or special purpose computer system.Computer-readable media that store computer-executable instructions arenon-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices).Computer-readable media that carry computer-executable instructions aretransmission media. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation,embodiments of the disclosure can comprise at least two distinctlydifferent kinds of computer-readable media: non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media (devices) and transmission media.

Non-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices) includes RAM,ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, solid state drives (“SSDs”) (e.g., based on RAM),Flash memory, phase-change memory (“PCM”), other types of memory, otheroptical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storagedevices, or any other medium which can be used to store desired programcode means in the form of computer-executable instructions or datastructures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or specialpurpose computer.

A “network” is defined as one or more data links that enable thetransport of electronic data between computer systems and/or modulesand/or other electronic devices. When information is transferred orprovided over a network or another communications connection (eitherhardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to acomputer, the computer properly views the connection as a transmissionmedium. Transmissions media can include a network and/or data linkswhich can be used to carry desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions or data structures and which can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. Combinationsof the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

Further, upon reaching various computer system components, program codemeans in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structurescan be transferred automatically from transmission media tonon-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices) (or viceversa). For example, computer-executable instructions or data structuresreceived over a network or data link can be buffered in RAM within anetwork interface module (e.g., a “NIC”), and then eventuallytransferred to computer system RAM and/or to less volatile computerstorage media (devices) at a computer system. Thus, it should beunderstood that non-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices)can be included in computer system components that also (or evenprimarily) utilize transmission media.

Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which, when executed at a processor, cause a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing deviceto perform a certain function or group of functions. In someembodiments, computer-executable instructions are executed on ageneral-purpose computer to turn the general-purpose computer into aspecial purpose computer implementing elements of the disclosure. Thecomputer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries,intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, or evensource code. Although the subject matter has been described in languagespecific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to beunderstood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the described features or acts described above.Rather, the described features and acts are disclosed as example formsof implementing the claims.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the disclosure may bepracticed in network computing environments with many types of computersystem configurations, including, personal computers, desktop computers,laptop computers, message processors, hand-held devices, multi-processorsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones,PDAs, tablets, pagers, routers, switches, and the like. The disclosuremay also be practiced in distributed system environments where local andremote computer systems, which are linked (either by hardwired datalinks, wireless data links, or by a combination of hardwired andwireless data links) through a network, both perform tasks. In adistributed system environment, program modules may be located in bothlocal and remote memory storage devices.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be implemented in cloudcomputing environments. In this description, “cloud computing” isdefined as a model for enabling on-demand network access to a sharedpool of configurable computing resources. For example, cloud computingcan be employed in the marketplace to offer ubiquitous and convenienton-demand access to the shared pool of configurable computing resources.The shared pool of configurable computing resources can be rapidlyprovisioned via virtualization and released with low management effortor service provider interaction, and then scaled accordingly.

A cloud-computing model can be composed of various characteristics suchas, for example, on-demand self-service, broad network access, resourcepooling, rapid elasticity, measured service, and so forth. Acloud-computing model can also expose various service models, such as,for example, Software as a Service (“SaaS”), Platform as a Service(“PaaS”), and Infrastructure as a Service (“IaaS”). A cloud-computingmodel can also be deployed using different deployment models such asprivate cloud, community cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, and soforth. In this description and in the claims, a “cloud-computingenvironment” is an environment in which cloud computing is employed.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of exemplary computing device 1100that may be configured to perform one or more of the processes describedabove. One will appreciate that one or more computing devices such asthe computing device 1100 may implement the survey system 102 and/orclient device 104 described above. As shown by FIG. 11, the computingdevice 1100 can comprise a processor 1102, a memory 1104, a storagedevice 1106, an I/O interface 1108, and a communication interface 1110,which may be communicatively coupled by way of a communicationinfrastructure 1112. While an exemplary computing device 1100 is shownin FIG. 11, the components illustrated in FIG. 11 are not intended to belimiting. Additional or alternative components may be used in otherembodiments. Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the computing device1100 can include fewer components than those shown in FIG. 11.Components of the computing device 1100 shown in FIG. 11 will now bedescribed in additional detail.

In one or more embodiments, the processor 1102 includes hardware forexecuting instructions, such as those making up a computer program. Asan example, and not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, theprocessor 1102 may retrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internalregister, an internal cache, the memory 1104, or the storage device 1106and decode and execute them. In one or more embodiments, the processor1102 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, oraddresses. As an example and not by way of limitation, the processor1102 may include one or more instruction caches, one or more datacaches, and one or more translation lookaside buffers (TLBs).Instructions in the instruction caches may be copies of instructions inthe memory 1104 or the storage 1106.

The memory 1104 may be used for storing data, metadata, and programs forexecution by the processor(s). The memory 1104 may include one or moreof volatile and non-volatile memories, such as Random Access Memory(“RAM”), Read Only Memory (“ROM”), a solid state disk (“SSD”), Flash,Phase Change Memory (“PCM”), or other types of data storage. The memory1104 may be internal or distributed memory.

The storage device 1106 includes storage for storing data orinstructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage device1106 can comprise a non-transitory storage medium described above. Thestorage device 1106 may include a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy diskdrive, flash memory, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, magnetictape, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive or a combination of two ormore of these. The storage device 1106 may include removable ornon-removable (or fixed) media, where appropriate. The storage device1106 may be internal or external to the computing device 1100. In one ormore embodiments, the storage device 1106 is non-volatile, solid-statememory. In other embodiments, the storage device 1106 includes read-onlymemory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may be mask programmed ROM,programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasablePROM (EEPROM), electrically alterable ROM (EAROM), or flash memory or acombination of two or more of these.

The I/O interface 1108 allows a user to provide input to, receive outputfrom, and otherwise transfer data to and receive data from computingdevice 1100. The I/O interface 1108 may include a mouse, a keypad or akeyboard, a touch screen, a camera, an optical scanner, networkinterface, modem, other known I/O devices or a combination of such I/Ointerfaces. The I/O interface 1108 may include one or more devices forpresenting output to a user, including, but not limited to, a graphicsengine, a display (e.g., a display screen), one or more output drivers(e.g., display drivers), one or more audio speakers, and one or moreaudio drivers. In certain embodiments, the I/O interface 1108 isconfigured to provide graphical data to a display for presentation to auser. The graphical data may be representative of one or more graphicaluser interfaces and/or any other graphical content as may serve aparticular implementation.

The communication interface 1110 can include hardware, software, orboth. In any event, the communication interface 1110 can provide one ormore interfaces for communication (such as, for example, packet-basedcommunication) between the computing device 1100 and one or more othercomputing devices or networks. As an example and not by way oflimitation, the communication interface 1110 may include a networkinterface controller (NIC) or network adapter for communicating with anEthernet or other wire-based network or a wireless NIC (WNIC) orwireless adapter for communicating with a wireless network, such as aWI-FI.

Additionally or alternatively, the communication interface 1110 mayfacilitate communications with an ad hoc network, a personal areanetwork (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of the Internetor a combination of two or more of these. One or more portions of one ormore of these networks may be wired or wireless. As an example, thecommunication interface 1110 may facilitate communications with awireless PAN (WPAN) (such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FInetwork, a WI-MAX network, a cellular telephone network (such as, forexample, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network), orother suitable wireless network or a combination thereof.

Additionally, the communication interface 1110 may facilitatecommunications various communication protocols. Examples ofcommunication protocols that may be used include, but are not limitedto, data transmission media, communications devices, TransmissionControl Protocol (“TCP”), Internet Protocol (“IP”), File TransferProtocol (“FTP”), Telnet, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”),Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (“HTTPS”), Session InitiationProtocol (“SIP”), Simple Object Access Protocol (“SOAP”), ExtensibleMark-up Language (“XML”) and variations thereof, Simple Mail TransferProtocol (“SMTP”), Real-Time Transport Protocol (“RTP”), User DatagramProtocol (“UDP”), Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”)technologies, Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”) technologies, TimeDivision Multiple Access (“TDMA”) technologies, Short Message Service(“SMS”), Multimedia Message Service (“MMS”), radio frequency (“RF”)signaling technologies, Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) technologies,wireless communication technologies, in-band and out-of-band signalingtechnologies, and other suitable communications networks andtechnologies.

The communication infrastructure 1112 may include hardware, software, orboth that couples components of the computing device 1100 to each other.As an example and not by way of limitation, the communicationinfrastructure 1112 may include an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) orother graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture (EISA)bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT) interconnect, anIndustry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBAND interconnect, alow-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro Channel Architecture(MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a PCI-Express(PCIe) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) bus, a VideoElectronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, or another suitablebus or a combination thereof.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example network environment 1200 of a surveysystem. Network environment 1200 includes a client system 1206, and asurvey system 1222 connected to each other by a network 1204. AlthoughFIG. 12 illustrates a particular arrangement of client system 1206,survey system 1222, and network 1204, this disclosure contemplates anysuitable arrangement of client system 1206, survey system 1222, andnetwork 1204. As an example and not by way of limitation, two or more ofclient system 1206, and survey system 1222 may be connected to eachother directly, bypassing network 1204. As another example, two or moreof client system 1206 and survey system 1222 may be physically orlogically co-located with each other in whole, or in part. Moreover,although FIG. 12 illustrates a particular number of client systems 1206,survey systems 1202, and networks 1204, this disclosure contemplates anysuitable number of client systems 1206, survey systems 1202, andnetworks 1204. As an example and not by way of limitation, networkenvironment 1200 may include multiple client system 1206, survey systems1202, and networks 1204.

This disclosure contemplates any suitable network 1204. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, one or more portions of network 1204 mayinclude an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN), a cellular telephone network, or a combinationof two or more of these. Network 1204 may include one or more networks1204.

Links may connect client system 1206, and survey system 1222 tocommunication network 1204 or to each other. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable links. In particular embodiments, one or morelinks include one or more wireline (such as for example DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL) or Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification(DOCSIS)), wireless (such as for example Wi-Fi or WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), or optical (such as forexample Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) or Synchronous DigitalHierarchy (SDH)) links. In particular embodiments, one or more linkseach include an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a VPN, a LAN,a WLAN, a WAN, a WWAN, a MAN, a portion of the Internet, a portion ofthe PSTN, a cellular technology-based network, a satellitecommunications technology-based network, another link, or a combinationof two or more such links. Links need not necessarily be the samethroughout network environment 1200. One or more first links may differin one or more respects from one or more second links.

In particular embodiments, client system 1206 may be an electronicdevice including hardware, software, or embedded logic components or acombination of two or more such components and capable of carrying outthe appropriate functionalities implemented or supported by clientsystem 1206. As an example and not by way of limitation, a client system1206 may include any of the computing devices discussed above inrelation to FIG. 11. A client system 1206 may enable a network user atclient system 1206 to access network 1204. A client system 1206 mayenable its user to communicate with other users at other client systems1206.

In particular embodiments, client system 1206 may include a web browser,such as MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER, GOOGLE CHROME, or MOZILLA FIREFOX,and may have one or more add-ons, plug-ins, or other extensions, such asTOOLBAR or YAHOO TOOLBAR. A user at client system 1206 may enter aUniform Resource Locator (URL) or other address directing the webbrowser to a particular server (such as server, or a server associatedwith a third-party system), and the web browser may generate a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request and communicate the HTTP requestto server. The server may accept the HTTP request and communicate toclient system 1206 one or more Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) filesresponsive to the HTTP request. Client system 1206 may render a webpagebased on the HTML files from the server for presentation to the user.This disclosure contemplates any suitable webpage files. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, webpages may render from HTML files,Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language (XHTML) files, or ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML) files, according to particular needs. Such pagesmay also execute scripts such as, for example and without limitation,those written in JAVASCRIPT, JAVA, MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT, combinationsof markup language and scripts such as AJAX (Asynchronous JAVASCRIPT andXML), and the like. Herein, reference to a webpage encompasses one ormore corresponding webpage files (which a browser may use to render thewebpage) and vice versa, where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, survey system 1222 may include a variety ofservers, sub-systems, programs, modules, logs, and data stores. Inparticular embodiments, survey system 1222 may include one or more ofthe following: a web server, action logger, API-request server,relevance-and-ranking engine, content-object classifier, notificationcontroller, action log, third-party-content-object-exposure log,inference module, authorization/privacy server, search module,advertisement-targeting module, user-interface module, user-profilestore, connection store, third-party content store, or location store.Survey system 1222 may also include suitable components such as networkinterfaces, security mechanisms, load balancers, failover servers,management-and-network-operations consoles, other suitable components,or any suitable combination thereof.

In particular embodiments, survey system 1222 may include one or moreuser-profile stores for storing user profiles. A user profile mayinclude, for example, biographic information, demographic information,behavioral information, social information, or other types ofdescriptive information, such as work experience, educational history,hobbies or preferences, interests, affinities, or location. Interestinformation may include interests related to one or more categories.Categories may be general or specific. Additionally, a user profile mayinclude financial and billing information of users (e.g., respondents,customers, etc.).

The foregoing specification is described with reference to specificexemplary embodiments thereof. Various embodiments and aspects of thedisclosure are described with reference to details discussed herein, andthe accompanying drawings illustrate the various embodiments. Thedescription above and drawings are illustrative and are not to beconstrued as limiting. Numerous specific details are described toprovide a thorough understanding of various embodiments.

The additional or alternative embodiments may be embodied in otherspecific forms without departing from its spirit or essentialcharacteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in allrespects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of theinvention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than bythe foregoing description. All changes that come within the meaning andrange of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within theirscope.

We claim:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising: providing, to aclient device, a survey question comprising graphical symbol answerchoices; receiving, from the client device, an indication of a selectedgraphical symbol from the graphical symbol answer choices; generating,within a survey system, results for the survey question by mapping theselected graphical symbol to an available answer choice; and updatingsurvey results based on the results for the survey question.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication of theselected graphical symbol comprises a user input associated with theselected graphical symbol.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim2, wherein the user input associated with the selected graphical symbolcorresponds to a user input type associated with a distribution channelcorresponding to the client device.
 4. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, wherein generating the results for the survey question bymapping the selected graphical symbol to the available answer choicecomprises translating the selected graphical symbol to an opinion withina range of opinions.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the graphical symbol answer choices comprise emojis orideograms.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: identifying a question type of the survey question; anddetermining the graphical symbol answer choices based on the questiontype of the survey question.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein generating results for the survey question by mapping theselected graphical symbol to an available answer choice comprisesconverting the selected graphical symbol to a string of text.
 8. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructionsthat, when executed by at least one processor, cause a computing deviceto: provide, to a client device, a survey question comprising graphicalsymbol answer choices; receive, from the client device, an indication ofa selected graphical symbol from the graphical symbol answer choices;generate, within a survey system, results for the survey question bymapping the selected graphical symbol to an available answer choice; andupdate survey results based on the results for the survey question. 9.The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, whereinthe indication of the selected graphical symbol comprises a user inputassociated with the selected graphical symbol.
 10. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the user inputassociated with the selected graphical symbol corresponds to a userinput type associated with a distribution channel corresponding to theclient device.
 11. The non-transitory computer readable storage mediumof claim 8, wherein generating the results for the survey question bymapping the selected graphical symbol to the available answer choicecomprises translating the selected graphical symbol to an opinion withina range of opinions.
 12. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 8, wherein the graphical symbol answer choices compriseemojis or ideograms.
 13. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 8, further comprising instructions that, when executedby the at least one processor, cause the computing device to: identify aquestion type of the survey question; and determine the graphical symbolanswer choices based on the question type of the survey question. 14.The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, whereingenerating results for the survey question by mapping the selectedgraphical symbol to an available answer choice comprises converting theselected graphical symbol to a string of text.
 15. A system comprising:at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computerreadable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executedby the at least one processor, cause the system to: provide, to a clientdevice, a survey question comprising graphical symbol answer choices;receive, from the client device, an indication of a selected graphicalsymbol from the graphical symbol answer choices; generate, within asurvey system, results for the survey question by mapping the selectedgraphical symbol to an available answer choice; and update surveyresults based on the results for the survey question.
 16. The system ofclaim 15, wherein the indication of the selected graphical symbolcomprises a user input associated with the selected graphical symbol.17. The system of claim 16, wherein the user input associated with theselected graphical symbol corresponds to a user input type associatedwith a distribution channel corresponding to the client device.
 18. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein generating the results for the surveyquestion by mapping the selected graphical symbol to the availableanswer choice comprises translating the selected graphical symbol to anopinion within a range of opinions.
 19. The system of claim 15, furthercomprising instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the system to: identify a question type of the surveyquestion; and determine the graphical symbol answer choices based on thequestion type of the survey question.
 20. The system of claim 15,wherein generating results for the survey question by mapping theselected graphical symbol to an available answer choice comprisesconverting the selected graphical symbol to a string of text.